Friday, May 16, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Reputed mob soldier met with mayor at City Hall

Oscar Goodman Las Vegas mayor met with Nevada Black Book member shortly after taking office in 1999

Shortly after taking office in 1999, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman met in his City Hall office with a reputed mob soldier who has been a member of Nevada's Black Book since 1997.

Charles "The Moose" Panarella, reportedly a member of the Colombo crime family convicted nine years ago in a drug money laundering scam involving the Maxim casino, was seeking the mayor's assistance in finding a Las Vegas job for his son.

"He came up without an appointment and asked whether I could help his son," Goodman said. "I tried to."

Goodman, a former defense attorney who represented many alleged underworld figures, drew fire less than two months ago for socializing in his home with Joey Cusumano, another former client and Black Book member.

He said Thursday that he saw nothing wrong with the 1999 meeting with Panarella that unfolded in his Las Vegas City Hall office.

The mayor said Thursday he is not aware that Panarella's name is among those in the Black Book, the state's list of persons banned from casinos because they are believed to be a threat to the Nevada gaming industry.

When asked if he knew Panarella was a mob soldier, Goodman said, "I don't know what that means."

The mayor later said, "I never saw him associated with anyone who was a mobster."

Panarella, a Las Vegas resident also known as "Charlie Moose," was added to the Black Book in 1997, about nine years after he was identified as a member of New York's Colombo crime family in a Senate subcommittee hearing.

In 1994, Panarella was convicted of attempting to launder money through the Maxim as part of a scheme to purchase a farm for $500,000 to $1 million.

Panarella arranged for profits from illegal drug transactions to be deposited at a cashier's cage at the casino, said James Taylor, a Gaming Control Board investigator. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy in August 1994 and served 15 months of an 18-month sentence.

Before Thursday, Goodman had not publicly addressed the suggestion that he met with Panarella after taking office, an allegation that first surfaced earlier this week in a story published in the New York Daily News.

Citing hundreds of pages of internal FBI documents, the newspaper reported Wednesday that another mobster who has since turned government informant told the FBI he spotted Panarella leaving Goodman's office.

Former mob boss Vincent "Vinnie Ocean" Palermo, who is now cooperating with federal prosecutors, told the FBI that he saw Panarella leaving the newly elected mayor's office in mid-1999.

Goodman said Thursday that he has never met Palermo, the former head of the DeCavalcante crime family.

According to the Daily News report, Palermo told the FBI during an August 2000 debriefing that he made a $10,000 contribution to Goodman's mayoral campaign in 1999 because Goodman told him he would help him with zoning for a proposed topless club in Las Vegas.

Palermo, who once owned a successful strip club in Queens, wanted to open "a gentlemen's club in an area that was not zoned for such a club" in Las Vegas, the Daily News quoted the FBI documents as stating.

"Goodman told (Palermo) that as soon as he was elected mayor, he would help (Palermo) with the zoning issue," the FBI report states. Palermo told the FBI he donated $10,000 to Goodman's campaign through a third party.

Palermo told federal authorities that he returned to Las Vegas after Goodman took office to meet with one of the new mayor's aides, the newspaper report states. While waiting in Goodman's office, Palermo spotted Panarella. He told the FBI Panarella "kissed the mayor's assistant on both his cheeks and left."

The Daily News report states that the FBI documents do not say whether Palermo then met with Goodman. But nothing came of the club plans because Palermo was arrested in late 1999.

Goodman said in the interview with the Review-Journal on Thursday that he is certain he has never taken money that came from Palermo.

"I never heard of him," Goodman said. "I would remember `Vinnie Ocean' because I would hope he'd jump in it."

Goodman's admission of the Panarella meeting is the second time this year he has acknowledged associating with reputed mob associates since taking office.

Most recently, some disapproved of his mingling with Cusumano, a guest at Goodman's home in February for a party celebrating the 30th birthday and engagement of Goodman's daughter.

Gaming Control Board member Bobby Siller, former head of the FBI in Nevada, said at the time that Goodman's hosting of Cusumano "is an embarrassment to the state, an embarrassment for Las Vegas and an embarrassment for gaming."

Craig Walton, who heads ethics and policy studies in the political science department at UNLV, said of the Cusumano episode, "It's a blight on everyone if the mayor has these intimate associations with a person who is in the Black Book."

On Thursday, Goodman became angry when pressed for details of the Panarella meeting and its aftermath. He refused to answer several questions he considered inappropriate.

The mayor explained that he helped Panarella's son get into college after the young man's graduation from Bishop Gorman High School.

"I helped the young man get into the University of San Diego," Goodman said.

When asked whether he was successful in securing a job for Panarella's son, Goodman at first said, "That's none of your business."

When asked the same question a short time later, the mayor replied, "I tried to."

When asked whether Panarella was a personal friend or only a client, Goodman declined to answer.

"I'm going to bar you from City Hall if you keep asking questions like that," Goodman said. "I'll bar you from City Hall."

After threatening to hang up the phone during the interview because of his distaste for the questions, Goodman also threatened not to speak to the reporter for the next four years if the line of questioning concerning his relationship with Panarella continued.